The-Accountant-Jan-Feb-2018

Society
and discover the opening that
restores liberty to them.
I am using the finding of
this experiment to reinforce
a point that any leader or
person who wishes to be great
must encourage independent
thoughts and he or she must
think in uncommon ways
without necessarily following
the so called advisors blindly.
President Theodore Roosevelt
had a common philosophy
which made him stand out
from the crowd. He said, “I
choose not to be a common
man. I do not wish to be a
kept citizen humbled and
dulled by having the state
look after me. I will refuse to
live from hand to mouth. It
is my heritage to stand erect,
proud and unafraid and act
for myself and face the world
boldly.” These words portray
Roosevelt as a man who always
had independent thoughts and
indeed he was. Due to this he
was undoubtedly one of the
greatest Presidents The United
States has ever had.
Many times you hear
people say in the political and
business world that the leader
is good but his advisors are
the ones who mislead him
or her. Remember that many
times people buy what they
want to buy but not what they
need to buy. In other words,
people buy things from people
they like and in fact this is a
proven customer behavior.
Similarly, leaders do not get
the advice they need but get
advice for the kind of people
they are. Loyalty to the leader’s
thoughts always overrides the
conscience of each advisor.
The advisors conform to the
thoughts of the leaders and
therefore end up becoming
mind guards. They set
themselves up as bodyguards
to the decision. You hear them
say, ‘He needs all the support
we can give him.’ The doctrine
of collective responsibility
Zig Ziglar said,
“If you and your
boss reason the
same, one of you is
redundant.” If one
is redundant then
it means he is not
productive.
Therefore folks, I
say to you ‘If you
wish to be great,
do it your way.
Think uncommon
thoughts, do
uncommon things,
and as Henry David
Thoreau said, “If
one advances
confidently in
the directions of
his dreams, and
endeavors to live
the life which he
has imagined, he
will meet with a
success unexpected
in uncommon
hours.”
is invoked to stifle dissent
thoughts that are outside the
leader’s thinking. They all want
to reason in a common way like
their leader and end up coming
up with messed up decisions.
No wonder many decisions
that are made by leaders are so
unpopular. Zig Ziglar said, “If
you and your boss reason the
same, one of you is redundant.”
If one is redundant then it
means he is not productive.
John Henry Fabre placed
caterpillars in a circle. For
twenty four hours the
caterpillars dutifully followed
one another round and
round. Then Fabre placed the
caterpillars around a saucer
full of pine needles (their
favorite food). For six days
the mindless creatures moved
round and round the saucer,
dying from starvation even
though abundance of their
food of choice was located
less than two inches away.
This experiment helps leaders
to distinguish motion from
progress and productivity
from activity. A productive
leader is the one who thinks
of uncommon thoughts; one
who does not let present
circumstances stop him. He
makes his dream come true
by becoming creative and
allowing his mind to soar. One
who finds himself in the same
environment which breaks
others whereas he breaks the
record.
Therefore folks, I say to you
‘If you wish to be great, do it
your way. Think uncommon
thoughts, do uncommon
things, and as Henry David
Thoreau said, “If one advances
confidently in the directions
of his dreams, and endeavors
to live the life which he
has imagined, he will meet
with a success unexpected in
uncommon hours.”
nyanchamajoseph@gmail.com
JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2018 57